Research Centre Socio-Economic Research Centre

Contact

Louison Cahen-Fourot, Centre Leader // Associate Professor, Roskilde University, lcahenfo@ruc.dk  
 

Researchers from Roskilde University

Centre members from Roskilde University

 

The Socio-Economic Research Centre is envolved in a number of research projects.
 

Ongoing research projects

Producing alternative green futures: Exploring interconnections between green transitions and socioeconomics and political organization.
Lone Riisgaard, Roskilde University, Project leader, Associate professor, loner@ruc.dk
Jacob Rasmussen, Roskilde University, Project participant, Associate professor, jacobra@ruc.dk
https://ruc.dk/nyheder/samfundsforskere-vil-udfordre-begrebet-groen-vaekst (in Danish)
 

CASH-IN: privately managed cash transfers in Africa
Lars Buur, Roskilde University, Project coordinator, Associate professor, lbuur@ruc.dk
Malin Nystrand, Gothenburg University and Roskilde University, Project participant, malinn@ruc.dk
Jacob Ulrich, Roskilde University, Project participant, P.hd. Fellow, jacobu@ruc.dk
Bruno Yawe, Project leader
Rehema Kilonzo, Project leader
Lutengano Mwinuka, Project participant
Raphael Macha, Project participant
Fred Henry Beteganya, Project participant
Susan Namirembe Kavuma, Project participant
 

SWASH: Sustainable Wastewater Systems for Ghana
Paul Stacey, Roskilde University, Project participant, Associate professor, pas@ruc.dk
Jacob Rasmussen, Roskilde University, Project participant, Associate professor, jacobra@ruc.dk
Nina Torm, Roskilde University, Project participant, Postdoc, ninatorm@ruc.dk
Marin Oteng-Ababio, Project participant
Richard Grant, Project participant
Iris Fynn, Project participant
Issahaka Fuseini, Project participant
 

Illegal resource extraction and state formation in emerging African democracies (GOLD)
Paul Stacey, Roskilde University, Project participant, Associate professor, pas@ruc.dk 
Lars Buur, Roskilde University, Project participant, Associate professor, lbuur@ruc.dk
Abdul-Gafaru Abdulia, University Ghana, Legion, agabdulai@ug.edu.gh
 

Sapere Aude/ Universal Aspiration vs. Geopolitical Divides: Imagining the World as a ‘Post-Millennial’ in the SDG Era
Se also: Can the world’s youth unite across geopolitical divides to address the Sustainable Development Goals?
Mette Fog Olwig, Roskilde University, Associate professor, mettefo@ruc.dk
Tirza van Bruggen, postdoc, tirzamb@ruc.dk 
Conrad John Masabo, postdoc, conradm@ruc.dk 
 

‘Value Creation in Critical Raw Mineral and Green Energy Transition projects’
The project explores a core dilemma of the green transition: We need large investments in green energy and mining of critical minerals to combat climate change, but these investments often encroach on land belonging to indigenous and local communities and threaten their livelihoods and identities. This, in turn, creates conflicts which may disrupt the investments. Through study of four very different cases in Greenland and South Africa the research will unpack how, why and by whom
social and corporate value is defined and distributed in large green transition investment projects.
Project coordinator: Lars Buur, Professor, Roskilde University, Department of Social Science and Business
Granting authority: The Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF)
 

Everyday displacement governance in peri-urban settings. Strengthening the Resilience of Sahelian Societies (STRESS)
Sahelian societies have demonstrated their capacity to adopt efficient strategies (such as seasonal migrations and manifestations of solidarity) in order to adjust to harsh environmental conditions, rapid changes in environmental conditions and conflicts. Yet, the combined effects of lasting conflicts and climate change in the Sahel forced 4 million people to flee their homes and find refuge in safe locations. The vast majority of those are internally displaced persons (IDPs), who have taken up residence in peri-urban areas of secondary and capital cities, joining long-term members of the urban poor in precarious environments and livelihoods. This new situation produces considerable challenges to IDPs, host communities, local and national authorities and their international partners. The research programme STRESS explores the everyday governance of IDPs in peri-urban areas of Burkina Faso in a context of uncertainty due to climate change and conflict.
Project coordinator: Eric Hahonou, Partner institutions: University Joseph KI-Zerbo (UJKZ), Burkina Faso Abdou Moumouni University (UAM), Niger Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CNRST), Burkina Faso Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local (LASDEL), Niger Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Sweden Save the Children, Denmark. 
Granting authority: Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC)
 

Just transition in meat production (JUSTMEAT)
Project coordinator:  Laura Christine Horn 
Granting authority: The Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF)

Transregional South-South Security Cooperation and the New Geopolitics of African Security Governance
The research project which is funded by the DFF will analyze new forms of South-South security cooperation between Latin America and Africa to understand their impact on how security is governed in Africa, and what geopolitical consequences this entails. Examining these questions, we will provide new insights into the drivers of South-South security cooperation and the opportunities and challenges stemming from this increasingly important form of global security governance in times of changing global geopolitics. 
The core project team consists of Markus-Michael Müller (Co-PI, Roskilde University), Louise Wiuff Moe (Co-PI, Roskilde University), Ulf Engel (University of Leipzig) and Arlene B. Tickner, currently serving as Colombia’s Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

VUCCA: Vulnerability and Climate Change Adaptation in Conflict-Affected Regions - The Case of Northern Uganda. 
The project investigates how farmers’ vulnerability impacts their adaptation to climate change in conflict-affected regions through a case study of Acholi subregion in northern Uganda, which is beset by a range of interconnected and concurrent social and environmental problems, which render farmers vulnerable.  Extreme climate events and unpredictable weather patterns are affect farmers around the globe, especially smallholders who do not have many resources to adapt to those changes. However, farmers need to deal with a wide range of other problems: displacement after a violent conflict, lack of access to land and natural resources, poverty, and a myriad of other social, economic, political, and environmental problems. Some farmers are in a more precarious situation than others, and therefore not everyone is equally vulnerable to climate change. VUCCA aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of how farmers’ adaptation is linked to their vulnerability, particularly their access to natural resources in conflict-affected areas.
Funded by the Research Committee for Development Research (FFU), Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Partners: Roskilde University Kasper Hoffmann, University of Copenhagen, Gulu University, Tree Talk Plus

Urban Frontiers: From Illegal Land Occupation to Legalized Property. 
No land, that government and developers see as future cities in the Global South, is vacant. There is no empty ‘no-man’s land.’ Individual citizens, social movements, squatters, and urban developers already engage in making their land use look legal. Urban property development in the Global South often starts out in illegality. Only subsequently does it become legal. This project explains how? Mainstream research on the Global South sees urban land in technical terms of rapid urbanization, and the challenges of providing sufficient housing, infrastructure, and service.  Yet, if we fail to understand the significance of institutional transformation of urban land, we will not understand the future political landscape in the Global South, as landed property is the pivot around which government and citizenship turn.
Funded by the European Research Council.
Partners: Roskilde University Kasper Hoffmann, University of Copenhagen
 

Completed research projects

How to decarbonize states as investor and owners?

Decent Work and GVC-based Industrialization in Ethiopia (EthApparel)

Commodifying Compassion: Implications of Turning People and Humanitarian Causes into Marketable Things (CoCo research)

Informal Worker Organization and Social Protection (SPIWORK)

Hierarchies of Rights: Land and natural resource investments in Africa (Hierarchies)

Carlsberg Foundation Monograph Fellowship: Going Green Globally? Moral Economies of Vegetarianism

Carlsberg Foundation Research Infrastructure: Vegetarianism in a Global Perspective

You find a list of projects at Centre profile at the Roskilde University Research Portal

The Socio-Economic Research Centre (SECO) Working Paper series publishes cutting-edge research on contemporary political and socio-economic dynamics in advanced, emerging and developing countries.

The CAE Working Papers was by November 1, 2021 transformed into SECO Working Paper Series in order to better capture the research on contemporary political and socio-economic dynamics in advanced, emerging and developing countries.

SECO and CAE Working Paper Series